Using senior citizens as pawns

Writing inHuman Eventslast week, John Hayward noted that in the course of negotiating with Congress to raise the debt ceiling, Barack Obama inadvertently made a rather startling admission: to wit, that the Social Security trust fund is a mere urban myth. Excerpts:

Back when Social Security officially went bankrupt in January, there was a panicked flurry of editorializing from liberals who hastily assured their nervous brethren that it wasn’t true. Social Security was fine, all kinds of money piled up in the vault, nothing to worry about…. As recently as March, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid angrily told reform-minded Republicans to “back off Social Security” because “it’s in great shape for many decades. Let’s worry about Social Security when it’s a problem. Today it is not a problem.”

But last Tuesday, President Obama said, “I cannot guarantee that [Social Security] checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do this.”

In other words, Barack Obama just called Harry Reid a miserable, stinking liar. Or a doddering imbecile. Take your pick.

This is a very important point to drive home. There is no Social Security trust fund. There never has been. All money given to the State will be spent by the State….

Attention senior citizens: What Obama is saying, by making this threat, is that all your lovely Social Security money is his to spend right now, as he sees fit. He may decide to spend it on other things, which will leave no funds for the Social Security checks you depend on.

Does the president think he has such a pliant media that he’ll be able to stop Social Security checks from going out and somehow attach the blame to Republicans? Is he that crazy?

Consider Obama’s words: “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.”

To people who rely on Social Security to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, that’s an awfully reckless thing for a president to say. It’s also false, because Obama can guarantee Social Security checks go out….

Whether or not Congress passes new legislation, the president and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner already have the legal authority to prioritize payments and to guarantee that bondholders are paid – avoiding a default – and that Social Security checks go out on schedule…. To the extent Obama insists on threatening not to send Social Security checks, it’s critical that the public understand he is using seniors as pawns in his ongoing attempt to avoid confronting Washington’s spending problem and instead slam the economy with tax hikes that will make our economic challenges even greater.

The Bard of Murdock sums up the situation:

Barry had a little plan That made the liberals glow: With every dime that Barry spent The sovereign debt would grow.

It grew so large there came a day He needed all the fools Within the House and Senate both To change the spending rules.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 at 11:03 am and is filed under political snark. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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